A free t-shirt, and other Happenings...

For those of you who may know, I tend to frequent A LOT of blogs! I think I am following about 20 right now. Most of them are adoption blogs, so I love reading their journey's....

This morning, I checked on one my favourite blogs, babeofmyheart.com (sorry, don't know how to encript it), to see that I had won a t-shirt!! She had decided she would do a give-away from her friends adoption blog...SHE (Andrea) had bought 10 t-shirts from Abby http://dockerybambino.blogspot.com/, who is adopting from Ethiopia. Anyway...I had commented on Andrea's (babeofmyheart) blog, not thinking anything of it...I didn't check it last night (I usually check on them at least once a day), so I didn't know she had updated...SOOO this morning, I went to her blog, and I see that she had drawn the names of the commenters from the day before..and sure enough..she drew my name!! That totally made my day!! If you are looking for a t-shirt, and want to buy one for a good cause..then go and check out Abby's blog:)

I just finished a book by Angie Smith, the wife of Todd Smith, who's one of the lead singers of Selah...The book "I will Carry You", tells the story of their daughter Audrey Caroline (http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/. At 18 weeks, they found out that Audrey wouldn't live...but they chose to carry her to term (or as long as they could) anyway..resulting in an amazing story!! They have since gone on to have another daughter (they have 5 daughters..including Audrey) Charlotte Olivia:) I am also trying to finish off the 5th book in the Abram's Daughter's series, called "The Revelation".

So...what's up with us?? Well, on one hand, really, nothing! But, on the other, a lot of little things. I seem to keep busy, doing this and that:)

Anker and were asked to help out at the Christian Music Festival on August 7-8. It was a nice time, and the weather was really quite nice! It rained a bit, and on Sunday, the sun came out. I really enjoyed visiting with people.

So....as I get older, I am trying to be more assertive...I really was wondering if I was retaining fluid, b/c I was feeling fuller longer, and I was feeling that although I was doing great walking, that I didn't think that I had the full amount of energy that I had when I got out of the hospital. I also wondered if it was b/c of the weight I was gaining. AND three ppl (Anker included) have said that they noticed that my stomach was protruding more again. I went to my Dr a week ago, and he did a thorough exam (this is the Dr that, when I was blue, didn't do anything..just gave me more tests to call...once I was in RIH (our hospital), my mom gave him a call), and said that I wasn't retaining fluid, that it was all just fat. I can accept that some of that would/could be fat..that's fine..but ALL of it?? Well, I came home, and promptly made an appt see my specialist at the beginning of Sept. I have been weighing myself every day..and keeping track of my weight.

I went to the RT (Respiratory Therapist) on Monday, as I wanted to do some more excersises, and see how I was doing, (this was supposed be done back in June/July, but never got done)..everything went well..I was better than when I saw them in May... but when I mentioned to him that I thought I was retaining fluid, and said that he noticed that I had some edema in my legs. I decided to go and see him (my GP), and just see what he thought.

Anker and I both had appts (I had one already booked for something that had gone away..but wisely, I kept it anyway)..Anker had an appt for his eyes...more on that later...Anyway..we went, and even while there, I was thinking that maybe I was dumb to have kept the appt...but I decided to just do it...lol. ANYWAY...I explained to him that the RT noticed that I had some edema on my legs..Dr. K did an "edema exam", and promptly said that some edema is OK! I then told him that it took me a year and a half to get to where I was so sick....and he didn't seem to be too concerned about it. He did weigh me, said that I was heavier than I was last week (when I last saw him), and then said that I could up my water meds..yay! I was very happy that he finally did something. My friend on Facebook who is an RN told me that w/ some CHF pts...SOME edema IS normal, but I am not a CHF pt..my heart problem is only secondary to what was going on. Anyway..we will see what happens next week when I go back.

Anker has been having issues with his eyes...he went to the optometrist, but they wanted us to come back, and we just don't have the money for that right now, and I was hoping that Dr. K would give him a referral to an ophthalmologist. He has given him a requision for an x-ray, and maybe a referral to an ophtho. We will see happen. He has a glasses prescription, so he needs to fill when we have the money to do that.

He is working at the church about 5 hours a day, now. The church wanted him to work at least that much during the day, plus weekends, if needed. This will be great, as we will hopefully get more money!

We are heading to Vancouver at the end of the month, as I have 4 dr's appts there:) This is all depending on if we have enough $$ to go..I may end up going on the bus..we'll see. Our car needs SO MUCH work!! Should be a fun time. We will stay w/ Anker's sister's family. They will probably treat us to the PNE..we usually go every year, but we skipped last year.

I am still looking for work...I had two interviews, but nothing came out of them. There are a few places that I have sent off resumes to...so I hope something comes out of them.

Oh...so, we come back from the Music Festival, to our cat having thrown up all over our bed. He has thrown up (lots!!), but never on our bed. SOOO...the next day. I had to go to the laundromat to and I washed our duvet, it's cover, and mattress cover...oh well...at least they got washed..I hadn't washed our Duvet since getting it 3 yrs ago.

A lot of fires around this area...Kamloops is sooo smokey! I haven't even been going for my walks the last few days, b/c of the smoke being soooo bad!!

I went to the beach last Friday..such a fun time. I swam, sun tanned, ate, drank and read magazines..:) I really love going to the beach. I hadn't gone at all this year..was going to go yesterday, but when I saw the smoke, I decided I wouldn't be going that day. I should have gone on Thursday.